Official Blog: New Global Impact Awards program provides $23M for nonprofit tech innovators

http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2012/12/new-global-impact-awards-program.html

New Global Impact Awards program provides $23M for nonprofit tech innovators

Technology has dramatically improved our lives—from the speed at which we get things done to how we connect with others. Yet innovations in medicine, business and communications have far outpaced tech-enabled advances in the nonprofit sector.

Today we're launching the Global Impact Awards to support organizations using technology and innovative approaches to tackle some of the toughest human challenges. From real-time sensors that monitor clean water to DNA barcoding that stops wildlife trafficking, our first round of awards provides $23 million to seven organizations changing the world.



charity: water: Real-time technology to monitor water and ensure it gets to more people
One in nine people across the globe lack access to clean water. At any given time, approximately one-third of water pumps built by NGOs and government groups in remote areas are not functioning. charity: water will use its $5 million Global Impact Award to install remote sensors at 4,000 water points across Africa by 2015, monitoring and recording actual water flow rate to ensure better maintenance of and access to clean water for more than 1 million people.

Consortium for the Barcode of Life: DNA barcoding to identify and protect endangered wildlife
More than 2,000 endangered species are protected from illegal trade by UN regulations. Intercepting wildlife transferred across borders is critical to slowing illegal trade, but detection tools are expensive and unavailable. The Smithsonian Institution's Consortium for the Barcode of Life will use its $3 million Global Impact Award to work with researchers in six developing countries to create and implement "DNA barcoding," a public library of DNA barcode tests that enforcement officials can use as a front-line tool.

DonorsChoose.org: New program to enroll more underrepresented students in advanced classes
In the U.S., girls and disadvantaged students are less likely to study math and science in college or pursue related careers, in part because they're not exposed to advanced classes in high school. DonorsChoose.org will use its $5 million Global Impact Award to work with the College Board and provide public schools across the U.S. with the start-up materials needed to create 500 new AP science and math courses. DonorsChoose.org will also help successful teachers reinvest in their classrooms and students.

Equal Opportunity Schools: Data to identify high-performing yet underrepresented students
Every year, more than 600,000 low-income students in the U.S. miss out on advanced classes that provide college training. Using data analytics, Equal Opportunity Schools will use its $1.8 million Global Impact Award to identify 6,000 high-performing yet underrepresented students and move them into advanced classes.

Geena Davis Institute on Gender in Media: Tools to analyze and promote gender equality in media
What kids see on screen has a profound effect on how they see the world, from body image to academic performance. The Geena Davis Institute on Gender in Media will use its $1.2 million Global Impact Award to support the development of automated technology that analyzes female portrayals in children's media.

GiveDirectly: Mobile technology to put money directly into the hands of the poor
Despite assumptions, direct cash transfers are a proven approach to lifting people out of poverty. Research documents substantial positive impacts on a wide range of indicators, including farm profits and infant birth weight. GiveDirectly will use its $2.4 million Global Impact Award to scale its model of direct cash transfers.

World Wildlife Fund: New technologies to advance anti-poaching efforts
The illegal wildlife trade, estimated to be worth $7-10 billion annually, devastates endangered species, damages ecosystems, and threatens local livelihoods and regional security. World Wildlife Fund will use its $5 million Global Impact Award to adapt and implement specialized sensors and wildlife tagging technology.

We invite you to learn more about Google's new Global Impact Awards and the other ways we give. As we reflect back over this year, I'm proud to report that we've been able to support organizations changing the world with more than $100 million in grants, $1 billion in technology and 50,000 hours of Googler volunteering.

Posted by Jacquelline Fuller, Director of Giving at Google

~A.

http://the-looper.com/index.html

The Looper

The Looper challenges the idea of a greenhouse and leverages one very simple concept: the growing of plants inherently cleans an ecosystem.

The Looper repurposes an existing river barge into a greenhouse which collects, uses, filters, and returns water to the river in a remediated state – a loop. The "building" was designed in accordance with the Living Building Challenge Standards and addresses each principle – site, water, energy, health, materials, equity and beauty – to create a zero-impact design. At the heart of the vessel is a "living machine" that distributes filtered river water to an aquaponics system growing both plants and fish. As the greenhouse barge moves along the river, it is able to restore water and habitat, serve multiple communities with access to fresh produce and act as a floating classroom for an ecologically abundant future.

~A.

The Nuclear Alchemy Gamble - Institute for Energy and Environmental Research

http://ieer.org/resource/press-releases/nuclear-alchemy-gamble/

The Nuclear Alchemy Gamble

Download the Statement of Hisham Zerriffi | Statement of Annie Makhijani

---

NEWS RELEASE

Hugely Expensive Technology Would Increase Environmental, Health, Safety And Nuclear Proliferation Risks, New Report Says

Washington, D.C. (May 24, 2000): Nuclear industry claims for a proposed radioactive waste management technology called "transmutation" are fundamentally deficient and overly optimistic according to a new report released today at the National Press Club. The Nuclear Alchemy Gamble: An Assessment of Transmutation as a Nuclear Waste Management Strategy, by the Institute for Energy and Environmental Research (IEER), warns of the high cost and technical limitations of transmutation, as well as the safety and environmental dangers it poses. Transmutation aims to convert long-lived radioactive waste components, such as plutonium, into short-lived or stable materials. Some proponents claim the technology could reduce the period over which nuclear wastes remain dangerous from millions of years to a few centuries.

"Transmutation will not solve the nuclear waste problem and could, in fact, make it worse," said Hisham Zerriffi, principal author of the report and a Senior Scientist at IEER. "Even proponents of the scheme now acknowledge that a geologic repository would still be needed for much of the residual long-lived waste. Huge volumes of 'low-level' and transuranic waste will also be created. Moreover, proliferation dangers would increase due to repeated separation of plutonium and other transuranic materials in reprocessing plants. The waste transmutation program should be ended now, in its early phase, before needless expenditures and risks have been incurred."

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) is considering launching a transmutation program that is based on preliminary work done at the agency's nuclear weapons laboratories, principally the Los Alamos National Laboratory and the Argonne National Laboratory. Other countries, notably France and Japan, also have active research programs in place.

"Asking the public for huge sums of money for new reactor research and development under the guise of radioactive waste management appears to be largely a scheme to perpetrate the nuclear power industry using public opposition to waste repositories as an excuse," said Dr. Arjun Makhijani, President of IEER. "Our research shows that the road will not only be costly and dangerous, but that it will also be a dead end. There is no magic bullet for solving the problem of long-lived nuclear waste."

According to The Nuclear Alchemy Gamble, even transmutation proponents agree that many long-lived components of radioactive waste, such as cesium-135 and carbon-14, cannot be transformed into less dangerous forms because of fundamental limitations that cannot be overcome by technology development. Uranium, which makes up 94% of the mass of the spent fuel, cannot be transmuted because it would result in the production of even more plutonium. In some cases, the report notes, transmutation would create new and even more toxic transuranic radioactive materials, making the residual wastes far more dangerous per pound.

Transmutation of long-lived radionuclides into short-lived ones can only be done in a nuclear reactor. To be a useful management tool, the report points out, transmutation would require fast breeder reactors, a technology that has not been successfully commercialized after decades of effort, and billions of dollars of expenditures.

"France and Japan have long had breeder reactor programs that have proven to be costly, technically unreliable, and environmentally problematic. They also raise serous proliferation concerns," according to Annie Makhijani, IEER Project Scientist and the report's co-author. "Transmutation would only perpetuate these problems and add new ones. For instance, breeder reactor operation was never really mastered even with simpler plutonium fuels, yet would be far more complex with transmutation fuels, creating new safety risks."

Many of these concerns already exist because of nuclear programs in countries outside the United States that attempt to use plutonium as fuel. Currently, a number of countries use mixed oxide (MOX) reactor fuel, a blend of plutonium oxide and uranium oxide. Several countries, including the United States, have also attempted to develop breeder reactors, which were supposed to produce more plutonium than they consumed.

Advanced transmutation schemes would require a complex, entirely new reactor type, called a sub-critical reactor, which would create significant new safety risks. These proposals would, in whole or in part, replace the ordinary critical reactors with a reactor that cannot sustain a chain reaction. In order to operate, such a "sub-critical" reactor requires an external source of neutrons, which would be produced by accelerated protons hitting a target of heavy metal. Work on Accelerator Transmutation of Waste (ATW) is being conducted at research facilities in several countries, including at Los Alamos. Proponents of such technologies claim it is safer than current reactors. The IEER report states that ATW systems could create new and little understood risks.

"Sub-critical systems can actually be more dangerous than conventional reactors if, as is often the case, there are more subsystems that can fail or initiate failures, and fewer backups," noted Dr. Lawrence Lidsky, Professor of Nuclear Engineering at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and a reviewer of the report. "Probabilistic risk analysis is a complex art, requiring a deep understanding of possible accident initiators and accident progression, and the ATW design is far too rudimentary at this time to apply this powerful tool. However, it is clear that the currently envisaged ATW systems are more complex than fission reactors, have more accident initiators, and many fewer backup safety systems."

The report recommends a halt to transmutation research and the use of plutonium as a nuclear reactor fuel and urges creation of a sound, scientific program of studying waste disposal alternatives.

---

You can download the entire report as a PDF file by entering your contact information below, if you haven't already provided it elsewhere on this site. You will receive an email with the download link.

Download is free, donations are welcome.

~A.

Fwd: To Catch A Thief - Rembrandt style

Very picturesque capture

The Rijksmuseum museum in Amsterdam had an idea: Let's bring the art to the people and then, hopefully, they will come to see more.
They took a Rembrandt painting from 1642, Guards of the Night, and brought it to life. They placed the characters in a busy mall and the rest you can see for yourself:

 

About 90 sec.
http://www.youtube.com/embed/a6W2ZMpsxhg?feature=player_embedded

Generation XL | Raising Healthy Kids - Mercola.com

http://products.mercola.com/generation-xl/?e_cid=20131029Z1_DNL_YRP_3&utm_source=dnl&utm_medium=email&utm_content=yrp3&utm_campaign=20131029Z1

"Do You Want a Child Who is XL -- or a Child Who Will Excel?"

Generation XL: Raising Healthy, Intelligent Kids in a
High-Tech, Junk-Food World

The New Book by Dr. Joseph Mercola and Dr. Ben Lerner

Generation XL

There is no doubt about it-the health of our children has become a national emergency.

Hospital costs for obesity-related ailments in children have more than TRIPLED over the last twenty years, with 30 percent of boys, and a staggering 40 percent of girls, at risk of developing type 2 diabetes-an obesity-related condition-sometime during their lives.

Childhood, a pivotal time for creating a healthy foundation for future well-being and longevity, has been profoundly degraded by inactivity through TV, video games and computers, with chemically enhanced diets more fit for cyborgs than growing youngsters.

We have super-sized fast foods, with more additives and preservatives than raw food material. Plus, sugar-laden beverages (the main staple of most people today) have lead to an epidemic of children who are out of shape, over-weight and feel horrible both physically and emotionally.

Formerly abnormal childhood afflictions have become the norm as more and more children are riddled with pain, learning disorders, ADD/ADHD, obesity, fatigue and depression.

Meanwhile, concerned parents turn to their doctors for "cures," but end up with nothing more than ... more chemicals! And -- more problems.

Are there any answers? Can you, as a parent, ensure a future of vibrant health, physical fitness and a harmonious mind for your child?

Can you make sure that YOUR child does not end up a sad statistic? YES, YOU CAN!

Let Us Show You the Fad-Free Way to Creating
a Healthy Lifestyle for Your Child!

Generation XL: Raising Healthy, Intelligent Kids in a High-Tech, Junk-Food World is an easy, step-by-step 246-page hardcover book guide that will show you how you can end the vicious cycle of poor health and over-medication.

Imagine your child happy, harmonious, fit, full of energy and free from debilitating ailments.

Our all-natural, common sense strategies for creating a lifetime of vibrant health have already changed the lives of thousands of patients in our private practices, and now we are sharing this vital knowledge with you!

Now, if you think this is just another diet book, think again. It's not.

There are already too many of those out there, most of which have little or no impact on long-term health. In an easy-to-follow style, this book will take you by the hand and gently teach you how to reach life-long wellness by taking small, steady steps in the right direction.

The results are positive, lasting changes to health and well-being.

Packed with the most cutting edge information available today, it will show you what no regular diet or fitness book can: how to change what truly matters-your family culture-into one that supports good health, optimal weight, increased immune system and decreased illness, maximized brain function and a balanced emotional state.

Here's just a small sample of what you'll find in Generation XL:

• Diseases related to obesity now kill more people than smoking and nearly every other kind of medical condition. Discover the three major causes of childhood obesity and poor physical health, and how you can reverse the process-page xvi.

• Find out the real science behind how the body gains and loses fat, and get the "skinny" on fat vs. muscle-pages 33-36, 129

• Discover the principles that are essential for producing safe, steady weight loss and a strong body-page 5.

• Find out the main dietary and lifestyle changes-the "Big 4"-you can use to improve your family's health most dramatically-pages 55-56.

• Learn the difference between "good" vs. "bad" fats, and why good fats are an essential part of your child's diet for proper brain and nerve function-pages 49-53.

• Peer pressure is a fact of life, but there are proven ways YOU can have superior influence on your kids. We'll share specific methods for fostering inner well-being in your children so that they can feel good about themselves-pages 11-20.

Generation XL

• Little-known secrets to dramatically increase your child's learning ability. Help your child develop the mental skills to succeed and thrive through the brain-body connection-pages 126-128.

• What you need to know about the three steps to weight gain and why your child's diet may cause him to STAY fat. We'll show you how to reverse this evil cycle and what you need to do to get the weight off (and keep it off for life)-pages 34-36.

• Discover the four factors used to gauge a person's level of health, and how to measure a child's ideal weight (forget about Body Mass Index used for adults-kids are different!)-pages 64-70.

• AND, the seven tricks that make your changes STICK-not just for a week or two, but for a lifetime! -pages 111-116.

• Plus, 22 of the best tips to help your child fall asleep faster and get a better night's rest-pages 119-122

• Plus, many more kid-proof gems to help you.

These guidelines really are key to making positive, lasting changes, so we urge you to take advantage of this special offer today to ensure a brighter future for your child.

This Program Is Not another "One-Size Fits All" Diet-Plus ...
No Carb or Calorie Counting Required, Ever

In order to optimize your weight, energy and health, you must eat properly for your specific biochemistry, or nutritional type.

This is what all those other fad diets fail to realize, and they've been leading you down the wrong track the entire time. By eating right for your nutritional type, you will finally feel satiated and full of energy.

Stop the insanity of dieting and still struggling with weight problems and illness! Order Generation XL today for $17.97 and give your child the gift of a sane, natural lifestyle that will lead to a lifetime of good health.

This new book is packed with insight, practical guidelines, shocking statistics and solid advice gleaned from both of our successful clinical practices. Through our simple, attainable step-by-step methods, you will be able to succeed in your quest for health, for both yourself and your child. These principles really work, and you will find out both "How" and "Why" in this book.

That's why this program actually benefits over 95 percent of the people who use it! Included you will find:

• Surprising facts about low-carb diets and why they don't work for everyone-page 44.

• A nine-question test for determining which of the three nutritional types your child falls under, and the specific proportions of carbs, fats and proteins his personal body needs. Food is fuel. You wouldn't dream of putting diesel into a fancy sports car. Neither should you neglect to feed the finest engine known to man-your body-with anything less than what it really needs to run smoothly and efficiently! -pages 82-85.

• Lists of recommended foods for each nutritional type-page 86.

• Find out which food causes a natural addiction-driving you to eat even more of the wrong stuff-and how to break free from this food addiction in order to maintain good health and optimal weight-page 32.

• The "Good" and the "Bad" about supplements. Don't put your child on supplements and multi-vitamins before you read this!-page 102-106.

The War Against the Dangers of Our Culture is On-Viva the Health of
Our Next Generation!

Our children deserve nothing less than a vibrant, successful future and a wholesome, invigorating youth. We owe it to our children to give them the correct tools to succeed, and that is the mission of this hardcover book-all 246 pages of it.

In it, your child will learn how to:

• Build her body's immune system to its peak levels to prevent major diseases and common illnesses.

• Reach his optimal weight-without going hungry-and maintain his optimal weight for life.

• Prevent the underlying causes of premature aging.

• Boost her daily energy and mental clarity.

• Improve his emotional well-being and outlook on life.

• Help eliminate the underlying causes of conditions such as diabetes, heart problems, chronic fatigue, allergies, and much more.

• Maximize her IQ and optimize her athletic performance.

We've even included 74 pages of kid-approved recipes, brimming with all-natural, healthy choices-packed with flavor-that will satisfy even your picky eaters!

If that's not reason enough to get you going, Generation XL also includes two full sections on physical fitness for toddlers through teens, including:

• Fun movement activities for toddlers and pre-schoolers. These activities are no work and all play (in case you've forgotten any of the good ones!).

• Guidelines and physical exercises for pre-teens and teens that are suitable for their growing bodies.

• A 1-2-3, month-by-month plan for staying on track with the entire lifestyle program.

Remember, this is not a diet book. It's not a fitness book. There are no fads in here ... none!

It does, however, contain all the tools you need to transform the health of your children: it will:

• Prevent and reverse disease

• Optimize and stabilize their weight without "dieting"

• Turbo-charge their internal energy supply, leaving them energized all day

• Increase their athletic performance, mental acuity and IQ

But that's not all -- there's more!

So Order Your Own Copy of Generation XL Today!

Go ahead. Order your copy of Generation XL today to take advantage of the limited-time price of $17.97 (the free bonus gifts are worth more than that!).

Then watch your children EXCEL rather than become XL. Be ready to turn their lives around forever!

 

Incredible Deal!
Generation XL
By Joseph Mercola & Ben Lerner

Your Price:

$17.97

I am so confident that you will be happy with your purchase, that I am providing you with my 30-Day Unopened Return Protection! In the event you find something elsewhere, change your mind, or give the item as a gift, you can return it.

In order to get a full refund* (less shipping charges),Generation XL must be returned unopened within 30 days of receipt.

Click Here for Full Return Policy Details

 

~A.

Fwd: Exclusive No Cost Webinar Tomorrow: Is Your Reliability Improvement Program Flying Blind?

Subject: Exclusive No Cost Webinar Tomorrow: Is Your Reliability Improvement Program Flying Blind?
Reply-To: rcm@my-reliabilityweb.com

nars are 100% free! Register below.

Without the Asset Criticality Ranking, Your Reliability Improvement (and Work Management) Program Is Flying Blind Wednesday, October 30, 2013 @ 3:00 p.m. EDT (Eastern Daylight Time) Fourteen Steps to Defect Elimination: Why They Are Key to Achieving a Reliable Plant Wednesday, November 13, 2013 @ 3:00 p.m. EST (Eastern Standard Time) Contamination Control: The Key to Gearbox Reliability Wednesday, November 27, 2013 @ 3:00 p.m. EST (Eastern Standard Time) Utilizing Vibration Analysis to Detect Gearbox Faults Wednesday, January 8, 2014 @ 3:00 p.m. EST (Eastern Standard Time)

China Makes......

Dr. Pickering: Why Food Combining Matters

http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2013/10/27/food-combining.aspx?e_cid=20131027Z1_SNL_Art_1&utm_source=snl&utm_medium=email&utm_content=art1&utm_campaign=20131027Z1

How to Combine Foods for Optimal Health

Click HERE to view the entire interview!

Download Interview Transcript

By Dr. Mercola

Dr. Wayne Pickering is a naturopathic physician on the East Coast of Florida, and was a good friend of fitness legend Jack LaLanne. He gave a beautiful eulogy at Jack's funeral. At the age of 67, he swims several miles a week in addition to extensive biking and a wide variety of calisthenics, pushups and pull ups.

He has quite an impressive exercise regimen and is a personal inspiration to me as I hope to be in as good a shape as he as that age. He also has one of the most positive attitudes of anyone I know.

He eats plenty of fruit and caused me to seriously reevaluate my position on consuming fruits and I have gradually been increasing my intake of them, especially mangos, which is his pseudonym (Mango Man). He even has a variety of mangos named after him. I actually have two of the Pickering mangos growing in my yard.

But one of the things he's known for in the nutrition world is food combining—and he is truly like a walking billboard for his program. The man looks about 20-30 years younger than his calendar age.

"Age is not a matter of years; it's a matter of condition. You can keep your health up until you die because you have 75 to 90 trillion cells in your body that work symbiotically on your behalf striving towards health. You cut yourself? It's going to heal without a thought. It just does," he says.

Improper food combining is one of the primary factors that cause gas, flatulence, heartburn, and upset stomach. What's worse, poor digestion can also contribute to malnutrition, even if you think you're eating a decent diet.

In his youth, Dr. Pickering was no different from most Americans today—severely overweight, out of shape, and eating the wrong foods. He recalls the key moment that turned his life around:

"I was in Illinois when I came back from Vietnam. I stayed up there for a year in Rockford. A little lady found me one day in a distraught situation. She owned a health food store. I went in there, and I bought a bottle of vitamins and a little book, How to Be Healthy with Natural Foods, by Edward E. Marsh."

He also found a postcard-sized food combining chart. He'd had frequent stomach pains for years, and was absolutely shocked when 24-hours after putting the information into practice, he didn't suffer with indigestion anymore.

Since then, Dr. Pickering has become an avid teacher of natural health, in which health and longevity is the natural outgrowth of proper nutrition—which also encompasses proper food combining, to optimize digestion.

Three Principles of Health

Many are under the mistaken belief that the human body is a frail instrument, prone to disease and pre-programmed to decay. Dr. Pickering wholeheartedly disagrees, and I second that motion. The truth is, your body is infinitely wise, with a natural inborn "instinct" toward health, and by following certain natural principles, you allow your body to do what it does best, which is to maintain an equilibrium of health. Dr. Pickering's three basic principles of health are:

1. You are automatically healthy, by design, and sick only by default
2. You don't catch disease; you "earn" it, as it stems from "crud in the blood from being drunk with junk," as he says
3. You get well by what comes out of you, not by what goes into you

In essence, health is as much based on getting rid of toxins and other harmful substances as it is based on optimizing your nutrition. Part and parcel of this philosophy is that food is your number one ally. And while certain nutritional supplements can be beneficial, they will not allow you to circumvent a poor diet. They can only complement your diet; they cannot take the place of a meal.

"Nutrition doesn't heal. It doesn't cure. It doesn't do anything," Dr. Pickering says. "It's a science though and it never changes... Here's what nutrition is: it's a series of four processes that your body employs to make food materials for the body to use."

Those four processes are the following:

1. Digestion
2. Absorption
3. Assimilation
4. Elimination

Four Principles of Wholesome Nutrition

So, how do you optimize your nutrition? According to Dr. Pickering, one of the most important factors when it comes to healthful eating is to make sure you're eating foods that are in season. Your constitution changes with the seasons of your local climate, and eating local foods when they're in season is a natural way to harness that intrinsic relationship your body has with the Earth.

Seasonal foods will typically be at their cheapest when they're in season, and will be readily available in most stores and farmers markets. Dr. Pickering's food combining guide can also help you determine which foods are in season, in addition to how to combine them for optimal health.

Next, Dr. Pickering advises eating foods that are indigenous to your area. Eskimos, for example, are not going to reap the same nutritional rewards from watermelon as someone living in the American South where watermelons grow naturally. The climate itself makes nutritional demands on your body.

Third, you also want to select foods according to the type and amount of physical activity you're involved in (an office worker, for example, will not benefit from the diet of a triathlete), and lastly, you want to choose foods according to your body's digestive chemistry. As a side note, albeit an important one, Dr. Pickering also points out the importance of your thoughts.

"Your thoughts, you see, help to govern chemistry," he explains. "When you sit down to eat, it's crucial to not talk about problems at the dinner table; talk about joyous things just because it gives you a chance to get together [with each other]."

Recent research has even confirmed that if you want to make your food taste better, and more thoroughly enjoy the experience of a meal, perform a ritual first. One of the most rewarding rituals you can do before a meal is to stop and give thanks for your food.

Not only might this make your food taste better, but also people who are thankful for what they have are better able to cope with stress, have more positive emotions, and are better able to reach their goals. People who give thanks before they eat also tend to eat more slowly and savor the meal more so than those who do not, lending a natural transition to mindful eating, which has a direct and beneficial impact on digestion.

Why Food Combining Matters

Food combining is a sensible and scientific way to eat your food so that everything you eat stands the best chance of digesting properly. Wayne is probably best known for promoting the importance of food combining. If the food you eat is not digesting properly, not only can painful gas, heart burn, acid reflux and other stomach problems arise, but your body will also be deprived of critical nutrients.

The short definition of digestion is: you put food or liquid into your mouth, swallow it, and then your body breaks these molecules down into a size it can absorb. What your body doesn't use is excreted as waste. These are the four processes listed above—digestion, absorption, assimilation and elimination. But food is actually broken down in a number of different areas, including in your mouth, stomach, and the first and middle sections of your small intestine, called the duodenum and jejunum respectively. Furthermore, you have two kinds of digestion:

1. Mechanical (chewing and churning) digestion
2. Chemical digestion

Food combination takes into account the area and complexity of digestion of each food, to ensure it goes through your entire digestive system with ease. Dr. Pickering explains:

"There's only one food that chemically breaks down in the stomach and that's protein. Proteins require pepsin, a very highly acidic [enzyme] in conjunction with hydrochloric acid. But the hydrochloric acid doesn't have the ability to break the food down. It just sets the medium for the concentration of the amount of pepsin that's poured into the stomach to digest whatever food that's in there. The intelligence of this human body is phenomenal."

There are three primary categories of food: proteins, carbohydrates, and fats. Proteins, again, begin their digestion chemically in your stomach. Carbohydrates are divided into two categories: fruits and starches. While fruits pass through your digestive system with relative ease, starches require three levels of breakdown; the very first stage is in your mouth. That's why it's crucial to carefully chew starchy foods.

According to the rules of food combination, you do not want to mix proteins and starches in the same meal. This means, no bun with your hamburger, no meatballs if you have pasta, no potatoes with your meat... Why is that? Dr. Pickering explains:

"Starches require an alkaline digestive medium to digest. If you put your fist in your stomach while it's digesting steaks and all that, chances are, you wouldn't have a hand anymore. The acid is intense... When you mix them both together – an acid-type of food and an alkaline – basic chemistry shows that they don't digest. They neutralize. Then what happens? If the food is not digesting... it's going through your body [undigested], throwing it into all kinds of turmoil."

The Three Commandments of Food Combination

Dr. Pickering lays out three basic commandments of eating that he recommends you not deviate from:

1. No proteins and starches at the same meal, as they neutralize each other and prevent proper digestion of either food. To ensure proper digestion of each food, wait two hours after eating a starch before eating protein. And wait three hours after eating protein before eating a starch.
2. No fruits and vegetables at the same meal. Fruits are either a single or double sugar, whereas the starches are a triple sugar. Fruits mechanically break down in your stomach, but chemically, they don't break down until they reach the third and fourth stage of your digestive system, which are in your small intestine. Starches, again, are broken down in three different stages, starting in your mouth.

According to Dr. Pickering, this is also why it's crucial to not eat dessert after a meal. When you do, it gets trapped in your stomach with all that other food, where it starts to rot as it's not being chemically digested there. Therefore, eat fruit 30-60 minutes before dinner. The same applies if you want to eat another piece of fruit. Acidic fruits, such as lemons for example, also do not combine well with starches. Lemon and banana is but one example of a combination that is sure to lead to gastrointestinal upset...

Many people consider tomatoes a fruit, yet it's commonly added to salad. Dr. Pickering classifies tomatoes as a "fruit-vegetable," because even though they don't have the sugar like most fruits, they're still an acidic fruit-vegetable. As such they're okay to combine with other vegetables. He suggests the following recipe for an excellent salad:

"Any kind of vegetable that has seed in it; for example summer squash, zucchini, eggplant, cucumbers, bell peppers, and okra—those are all fruit-vegetables. Your tomatoes go well with those. And since lettuce and celery have a neutral effect, as far as the breakdown of food, the celery and the lettuce combine very well with all of that. You can also add avocados."

3. "Eat melon alone, or leave it alone, or your stomach will moan." In short, melons do not digest well with other foods and will frequently cause problems unless consumed by itself.

The When and What of Eating

According to Dr. Pickering, the amount and sequencing of the foods you eat can also make a difference. He recommends the following eating schedule:

• Morning meal: The least concentrated foods, in the greatest amount. Ideal food choice: fruits
• Middle of the day: More complex foods, but in a smaller amount than your first meal. Ideal food choice: starchy carbs
• Evening: The most concentrated foods, but in the least abundant amount. Ideal food choice: protein

More Information

Your body is, by design, programmed for health, and disease is just as much a matter of eliminating toxins as it is about eating proper foods. Elimination, however, is dependent on a healthy digestive system, and by combining foods in a certain way, you can help your body digest all the foods you eat with ease. Remember, the two foremost rules of food combining are:

• No proteins and starches at the same meal, and
• No fruits and vegetables at the same meal

You can further promote healthy digestion by paying attention to the amount and distribution of protein and carbohydrates in each meal. Again, the greatest amounts of the least dense foods, i.e. fruits, are best eaten early in the day. Then, for lunch, eat a smaller amount of denser, more complex carbs, followed by a small amount of protein—the densest meal—in the evening. For more information about the digestive process and food combination, check out the following two web sites:

• CombineWhenYouDine.com has a 20" x 24" custom-laminated full-color guide for Healthy Eating that classifies fruits, vegetables and proteins to show the most compatible combinations for proper digestion.
• MangoManDiet.com offers a 27-day long course on food combining, as well as 400 recipes, nearly 140 articles, and several hours-worth of audio programs on nutrition.

~A.